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Good morning. We’ve (almost) made it – have a happy, fun, and safe Memorial Day Weekend.
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We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. 😎
🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today's newsletter takes 3.68 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: 6.88 minutes.)
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness”
–William Arthur Ward
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🏛️ Infrastructure Machinations
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Senate Republicans released the framework for their latest counter-proposal to President Biden’s infrastructure plan, raising their offer from $568B over five years to $928B over eight years.
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Background: In late March, President Biden unveiled an eight-year, $2.3T infrastructure proposal called the American Jobs Plan.
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After the GOP’s $568B counteroffer, Biden responded with a $1.7T package, removing $480B worth of research and development funds from his initial proposal.
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🤿 A deeper dive…
Image: GOP counteroffer document
Republican lawmakers said they would seek to pay for all but $257B by redirecting federal COVID-19 aid – an idea the White House pushed back on in a statement responding to the GOP’s plan.
⏭️ What’s Next?
The White House statement went on to say bipartisan talks would continue next week, signaling Democrats would not stick to a soft Memorial Day deadline as previously indicated.
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Any White House-backed infrastructure proposal is likely to pass in the Democrat-controlled House with a simple majority, but would need 60 votes - or 50 votes plus a budget maneuver called reconciliation - to be approved in the evenly-divided Senate.
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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🦠📅 New Studies on COVID Immunity
Immunity to COVID-19 lasts at least 11 months, two new studies suggest.
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One of the studies, published Monday in Nature demonstrated in patients who experienced mild infections, COVID antibodies decline rapidly in the first 4 months after infection and then more gradually over the following 7 months, remaining detectable at least 11 months after infection.
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From the study: "Overall, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces a robust antigen-specific, long-lived humoral immune response in humans." But due to the nature of COVID science (it's emerging) the study is still out for peer-review – "Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content."
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The second study, posted to a site that publishes before peer-review, indicated memory B cells remain in the body at least a year after the person first contracted COVID-19.
More: The researcher who led the second study told the NYT ($) that memory B cell protection is particularly robust for people who had the virus and then got vaccinated – so much so, that they might not need any booster shots.
From the Right: NY Post
From the Left: Axios
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🎓 Colorado Bans Legacy Admissions
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill Tuesday banning legacy admissions at public colleges and universities, becoming the first state to enact such a law.
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From the AP: “The bill prohibits public higher education officials from looking at ‘legacy preference,’ or familial relationships to alumni of the institution, in their admissions process.”
However... The bill does allow a governing board to ask questions regarding familial relationships to alumni of the institution in order to collect data.
More: Also on Tuesday, Polis signed a bill lifting requirements for public colleges and universities to consider SAT and ACT scores for first-time freshmen applicants.
From the Left: NPR
From the Right: Fox News
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🍿📈 A Trip to the Movies
Image: TradingView
Shares of AMC rose 35.6% yesterday to close at $26.52 – up roughly 115% compared to Monday’s opening price of $12.28.
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AMC has overtaken GameStop as the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets’ most-loved stock, according to a Bank of America analysis of stock mentions on the platform.
More: AMC has about 20% of its float shares sold short compared with an average of 5% in a typical stock, per financial analytics firm S3 Partners, which also found short-sellers betting against AMC have incurred a $1.3B loss this week alone.
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DONUT Holes…
⚖️ The Washington state AG charged two Tacoma police officers with second-degree murder and a third with first-degree manslaughter in the death of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man; the first time the AG’s office criminally charged police officers in the state for unlawful use of deadly force. (From the Left | From the Right)
💼 Initial claims for jobless benefits fell to 406k, per the Department of Labor, marking the lowest number since the pandemic began for a fourth straight week. (From the Left | From the Right)
📱 Facebook will no longer remove posts claiming COVID-19 was man-made. (From the Left | From the Right)
🚘 Rolls Royce unveiled the Boat Tail, a luxury car the automaker describes as “the most ambitious motor car ever created.” Only three will be made; the price will not be disclosed.
🧠 A 2-year-old Los Angeles girl with an IQ score of 146 has become the youngest member of Mensa in the United States.
📺 The Kelly Clarkson Show has been tapped to take over the slot currently occupied by Ellen when the latter show comes to an end next year.
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📸 Pic of the Day...
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Image: Sony |
Sony revealed during a presentation to media and investors on Wednesday that 41% of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners are girls or women, up from 18% for the late '90s launch of the original PlayStation.
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
😈 Furry Friends Friday: Hope for the Devils
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Image: Reuters
It’s been three thousand years since Tasmanian devils have successfully bred in the wild of Australia’s mainland.
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The animals are considered the world's largest surviving marsupial carnivores, and were confined to the island of Tasmania after being hunted to extinction in mainland Australia by dingoes.
In late 2020, conservation group park rangers in Australia successfully released 26 adult devils into the wild. The animals were able to breed, welcoming seven new joeys to the mainland – the first wild-bred Tasmanian devils to walk it in three millennia.
Keep reading.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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🚚 Long Haul
Image: TuSimple
Founded in 2015, TuSimple is a self-driving technology company aiming to establish a network of autonomous trucking routes across the U.S. by 2023.
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In the latest test of its technology, TuSimple’s autonomous trucks carried a shipment of fresh watermelons between Tucson, AZ, and Dallas, TX, completing the journey in just 14 hours and 6 minutes.
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It typically takes a human driver 24 hours and 6 minutes to complete the same route (a time reduction of 42%).
Keep reading.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
⚕️ Medical Exam
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“Sphenopalatine ganglionneuralgia" is the medical term for which common sensation?
A) Dizzy spell
B) Brain freeze
C) Mental fatigue
D) Sensory overload
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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